Rachel Toor's Blog, page 12

While Running the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim

I didn't stop working. Here's my latest Chronicle column on the habit of writing.

Personal Record: The Column

Now that I'm no longer sharing the back page of Running Times with my buddy Jim Gerweck, my column will be called "Personal Record."

Here's the first one, called "Shirtless Days."

My Old Friend, Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn was, everyone knows, a lucid writer, a tenured radical, and a man who introduced many to different ways of looking at history, politics, and the world. He was also, for me, a good father figure. Here's my essay about him from Inside Higher Ed.

Column

Here's my latest Chronicle column.

My Nazi Elephant Guide

In case you didn't believe my post below, here is the photo that so shocked me when I dismounted from my elephant ride in Thailand.

Too much water, too many fish

My BFF Mike said, "Why would you go snorkeling? You hate water and you're afraid of oogies."

This is true.

But I thought I should try new things, things that lots of normal people enjoy.

So I got in an air-conditioned mini-van and traveled three hours to the attenuated part of Thailand, to Bangsaphan. If Thailand were a Bit O Honey, this would be the yummy part in the middle, if you eat your Bit O Honey the right way.

Then we got on a speed boat, me, a handful of Finns, and an older Dutch coupl...

Good Things

Mango and sticky rice for dinner.

Mango and sticky rice for breakfast.

BBQ chicken backs on a stick for 15 cents.

Writing for five hours in the morning and then running on the beach.

Phone call from "landlord" checking in to make sure everything is A-okay.

Being able to tell him it couldn't be better.

Thai massage.

Oil massage.

Foot massage.

Sweet, sentimental, funny e-postcard from southern Utah. I miss u 2, John.

Riding an Elephant

Maybe it was because of "Seymour," the pony I rode on the beach with the short legs and choppy gait. But when, after spending too much time at the bridge on the river Kwai because the train was delayed for more than an hour, and then riding on the train for another hour of noisy rumbling, past fields of sugar cane and what the Thai guide called "sweet potato"; after a buffet lunch of "Thai and European delicacies" which consisted of pad Thai, Indian sweet curry with unidentifiable (but delici...

Last "Finishing Kick"

My column in Running Times will now be called "Personal Record." And I'll no longer be alternating with my wonderful friend (and the great guru of running) Jim Gerweck.

Here's the last Kick.

Fluke fitness, by the way, is a distant memory. Elephant riding, however, is quite vivid.

All Work + No Play = Wrong

I have become boring to myself. Despite getting loads of writing done, I realized that I am, in fact, on vacation. So I took today off. Had coffee in town. Wandered around. Ran on the beach for 30 minutes without shoes (a la the Tarahumara runners) and wearing just a jog bra and bikini bottoms. (Hey, it's the beach. It's Thailand.)

Then my feet hurt (big surprise), so I stopped for an hour-long foot massage, which is really foot and leg massage with oil and some Ben-Gay like smelly shit. Had t...